17 kids and game for more

DARLING, Baglung, Jan 27: Amrita BK of Darling-6 has given birth to 17 children and was game for more. But it was not to be as she had early menopause due to complications in uterus.



“The children were born due to the god´s grace,” Amrita, whose youngest child is a three-year-old son, said. “Now that I am sick, I will not bear anymore children,” the 45-year-old added almost with a sense of disappointment. [break]



She has absolutely no knowledge about the means of family planning and the only way to stop child birth for her is menopause. “If not for menopause, I would have given birth to more,” she said with a sheepish smile. The physical endurance of Amrita is commendable as she had all the 17 children delivered at home.



She gave birth to seven sons and 10 daughters but has only 11 children now as six died in the lack of proper care and treatment. “They are god´s gift. It´s up to him to leave them with us or take them back,” Amrita´s husband Ate explained the death of children.



The poor couple have no regret whatsoever despite facing difficulty to raise the children. “It was only due to her early menopause. Otherwise, we could have had even more,” Ate jokingly said pointing at his wife. They can´t even say the age and names of all their children.



Their eldest son Devi Ram, 22, studied till the fifth grade and now works on daily wages while they have not admitted their six-year-old son to school. They don´t even have any sense of duty toward the children. “We brought them to the earth. Now, they have to look after themselves,” Ate casually said.



The story of the BK couple is not an isolated case in the village as the dalits of Darling-6 have borne many children in the lack of family planning knowledge. Man Bahadur BK has also fathered 10 children. “We didn´t know anything about family planning and regularly had children,” Man Bahadur said.



Principal at Siddha Secondary School, Darling, Rudra Acharya said the dalits have borne more children in the lack of awareness. “They don´t even have any interest in education of their children,” Acharya said.



Senior officer at District Public Health Office, Baglung, Arjun Kumar Adhikari tried to escape saying the problem was of the dalits´ own making as they have not shown interest in using means of family planning.

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